Eggplant Relish Food

EGGPLANT RELISH

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Add eggplant and tomatoes. Cover; cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is very soft, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add vinegar, pine nuts, olives, raisins, sugar, and capers; cook (uncovered) over medium-low heat until vegetables begin to break down, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Transfer to a shallow bowl or a rimmed baking sheet; let cool completely. Stir in parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Relish can be refrigerated, covered, up to 5 days.

CAPONATA

Steps:

• Toss eggplant with salt, let drain: Toss the diced eggplant with about 2 tablespoons salt and put into a large bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate that just about fits the bowl and weigh it down with a heavy can. Let this sit for 1 hour. Drain the eggplant, rinse with fresh water and pat dry with paper towels.
• Cook onions, celery, garlic: Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery, season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion begins to soften - about 5 minutes. Add the garlic. Cook 1-2 minutes more. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
• Sear the eggplant: Wipe the pan with a paper towel, turn the heat to high and add the remaining olive oil. Let this heat until the oil is nearly smoking. Add the eggplant and spread it out in as thin a layer as you can in the skillet. Let this sizzle for 1-2 minutes before stirring, then let it sit for a full minute before stirring again. Cook like this for 5-6 minutes.
• Combine with other ingredients: Add the onion-celery mixture, the tomatoes, olives, pine nuts, capers and red pepper flakes. Stir well. Add the vinegar, sugar and tomato paste and stir once more. Cook, stirring occasionally until eggplant is very soft, about 8 minutes.
• Let cool, add basil, salt, pepper: Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Mix in the basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Caponata can be refrigerated, covered, up to 5 days.

EGGPLANT RELISH

Steps:

• Cut eggplants in half. Lay them in a baking tray face up. Place bell pepper in baking tray too. Drizzle olive oil over all the vegetables.
• Bake at 400 F, middle rack in the oven for about 15 minutes. Rotate the pepper and continue baking. At about 20-25 minutes remove pepper, flip the eggplant halves carefully and continue baking for another 30 minutes.
• Let both pepper and eggplant cool enough to be handled by hand. Peel pepper, then slice and dice in small pieces. Add to a bowl.
• Scoop the flesh of each eggplant half, remove the seeds where very visible. Then slice and dice the same way. Place on the bowl over pepper.
• Dice tomatoes, onions and mince garlic. Add the desired amount in the bowl over eggplant and pepper. Chop about half a cup of flat parsley and add as well.
• Squeeze 1 lemon over the ingredients in the bowl. Add about 3 tbsps of olive oil. Finally add half a teaspoon of sea salt.
• Mix everything carefully. Taste and adjust lemon, olive oil, salt as needed. Then chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Garnish with fresh flat parsley and serve with pita bread:). Enjoy!

EGGPLANT CAPONATA (SICILIAN VERSION)

Steps:

• Toss eggplant with salt and place in a colander set over a bowl. Let sit, about 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add celery; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is soft and lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in the skillet. Add eggplant and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in celery mixture, tomatoes, olives, capers, tomato paste, and oregano. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until caponata is thickened, about 15 minutes.
• Season caponata with vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with parsley.

EGGPLANT-TOMATO RELISH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, stir together tomatoes, garlic cloves, cumin, and olive oil. Place eggplant on top of tomato mixture and roast until eggplant is very tender when pierced with a knife and tomato juices are thick, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool. Transfer eggplant to a cutting board and halve lengthwise. Scrape out flesh with a spoon (discarding as many seeds as possible); roughly chop flesh. Place in a large bowl. Peel and chop garlic and add to bowl. Stir in tomato mixture and red onion. Season with salt and pepper.

EGGPLANT TOMATO RELISH

Steps:

• In a colander placed over a bowl, mix eggplant, onion and salt. Let it drain for 1 hour.
• Wrap in a kitchen towel and squeeze over the sink to remove excess water. In a large saute pan over medium high heat, warm the olive oil.
• Add the eggplant-onion mix, garlic, sage, thyme and pepper and cook, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes.
• In another pot over medium high heat, bring the vinegar and honey to a boil. Keep hot.
• Fill jars almost to the top. Pour some of the honey mixture over the top. Seal and use good water bath canning techniques to can.

EGGPLANT RELISH

Steps:

• Prehaet oven to 375°F.
• In a nonreactive saucepan, combine raisins and vinegar. Bring to boiling; remove from heat, cover; set aside.
• With tip of knife, pierce eggplant in 5 or 6 places. Place on foil-lined baking pan. Roast for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until eggplant is soft to touch and collapsing. Remove from oven; cool in baking sheet. When cool enough to handle, chop eggplant; set aside.
• Cook onion and pepper in hot oil 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in jalapeno, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook and stir 3 minutes. Stir in raisin-vinegar mixture, eggplant, tomato and honey. Bring to simmer and cook 5 minutes; cool.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• To serve, let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Stir in parsley.
• Serve with toasted baguetes slices.